OUR VIEW: Study shows IQ also suffers from effects of poverty

We urge educators and politicians to pay careful attention to a recent study that correlates IQ with money struggles.

People worrying about having enough money to pay their bills tend to temporarily lose the equivalent of 13 IQ points, scientists found.

The idea is that financial stress monopolizes thinking, making other calculations slower and more difficult, sort of like the effects of going without sleep for a night.

Unfortunately, this money-and-brain crunch applies to about 100 million Americans who face financial squeezes, says the team of economists and psychologists who wrote the study published in a recent issue of the journal Science.

The study's authors and others say the results contradict long-standing conservative economic social and political theory that say it is individuals - not circumstances - that are the primary problem with poverty.

We hope Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam is paying close attention to the study as it potentially affects all the state's educational programs, including his Drive to 55. That "strategic initiative" is designed to increase college graduation to 55 percent by 2025 to create "the best trained workforce in America."

But how is that going to work for the 407 students Rutherford County Schools spokesman James Evans reported who, as of Tuesday, qualify for the system's ATLAS program, which provides services for homeless or displaced students?

Life is going to get even more stressful for the poor as the 2009 Recovery Act's temporary boost to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, food stamps, is slated to end on Nov. 1.

For families of three, the cut will be $29 a month - a total of $319 for November 2013 through September 2014, the remaining months of fiscal year 2014. Without the Recovery Act's boost, SNAP benefits will average less than $1.40 per person per meal in 2014. Nationally, the total cut is estimated to be $5 billion in fiscal year 2014.

And it seems unlikely Congress will enact legislation to remedy this problem.

We cannot demand more intellectually of our school children if they - and their teachers - are fighting a losing battle against poverty.

But the good news is that the study shows changes to IQ as a result of poverty are temporary. Once financial worries are gone, the IQ numbers inch back up.

This leads us to conclude that if politicians are really that concerned with student achievement, they'll start by turning their attention on social programs to help the poor.

It just adds up.

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OUR VIEW: Study shows IQ also suffers from effects of poverty

We urge educators and politicians to pay careful attention to a recent study that correlates IQ with money struggles.